#Fordola best girl

[eorzeanflowers]

10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 tags

Basic rules: choose 10 fandoms that you are part of/support, and choose a favorite character from each of those. Then, tag ten folks!

Tagged by: @miqojak Ty for the tag!!! Sorry it took a hot minute.

Tagging: Uhhhhh, @terminuspride, @fair-fae, @alannah-corvaine, @voidsentprinces, @healerstail, @ahollowgrave, @alicelufenia, @starrysnowdrop, @briar-ffxiv, @driftward

Now to the list! In no real particular order cause I really just drift from thing to thing.

Penny Polendina (RWBY)

I love my quirky little robot girl. She's the absolute best, a brilliant fighter and very emotionally intelligent. She is such a cheerful ideal, someone who tries to see the best in people. She knows when they've gone too far and isn't afraid to stand up for what she wants! Which is the whole core of her little arc. Being a weapon given a soul and all. It is a beautiful story of a little girl who cares so much and wishes to be able to just... be that cheerful little girl without the weight of the world. Its just so sweet.

Honorable mentions: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Oscar, Neo

2. Kafka (Star Rail)

In all honesty she's the reason I'm even playing Star Rail. She is such a mysterious character, with a voice to die for. Yes, Hoyoverse characters tend to be rather shallow (that's a gacha game for ya), but Kafka just hits everything I love in a character. Her character short when she was fully released is... *chef's kiss* just amazing. I will admit, every time she does her ult in game I join her in saying "Boom." ^_^;

Honorable Mentions: March 7th, Stelle (Trailblazer F), Seele, Bronya, Jingliu

3. Lyse (FFXIV)

Shocker, the leading lady of Stormblood is still my favorite? Honestly, all three of the ladies from Stormblood are the trifecta of favorites. (Lyse, Fordola and Yotsuyu) The various storylines that cause them to interact is such a delight. I wasn't too bothered by the whole "Yda was my sister" thing, cause well, Yda was barely in the game post ARR... And like, it was always Yda and Papalymo. Never just one or the other. So when Lyse got the chance to shine and actually take center stage, I was smitten. She's tough, gentle, sassy, collected, brilliant, a bit silly, and more. Such a well written character. I'm still upset she left the scions tbh. Could've added a little hair color diversity by a little bit. :P

Honorable mentions: Aymeric, Hilda, Erenville, Zero, Y'shtola, Thancred, Ryne, Gaia, Minfillia

4. Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)

Ok, seriously, this series grabbed me by the throat and would not let me go. Gideon is such a lovely first viewpoint (and I adore all the viewpoint characters). She takes no shit, talks a lotta shit, and can fight a whole heck more shit. The way she interacts with Harrow at first, then the other Necromancers and their Cavaliers is such a delight. Sure you hate Harrowhark so much Gideon, why are you obeying her command to not speak a single word to literally anyone else, hmmmmmmmmmmm?????? Also the gay panic that Gideon seems to have on the regular is just. Great. I don't want to speak too much more on Gideon, cause this series is just great and you should read it.

Honorable mentions: Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Nona, Camilla Hect, Ianthe Tridentarius, Coronabeth Tridentarius.

5. Raiden Ei (Genshin Impact)

Last time it was Eula, now it is Raiden Ei. It is always a toss up between them, if I'm being honest. Ei is just... such a sad puppy? XD Its the best way to describe her. So trapped in her own past and trying to do what would best preserve her sister's memory... She's just SAD guys. Yeah, she may not be the best governing force for her nation, and she indirectly killed a lotta people with her retreating away and leaving a puppet behind, but we the Traveler showed up and fixed things! Also she gets two amazing boss fights, I honestly wish I could do the story one again but I ain't working through Mondstat and Liyue again. >.>;

Honorable mentions: Eula, Alhaithem, Deya, Kamisato Ayaka, Zhongli, Nahida, Navia, the Wanderer, Wriothsley

6. Karlach (Baldur's Gate 3)

KARLACH IS THE BEST AND SHE IS SO SWEET AND LOVELY AND SHOULD NOT HAVE TO GO BACK TO HELL OR DIE OR [redacted]. She is such a lovely goofball that even shows platonic love if you don't romance her and I really think that is great! Her arc tying into Gortash was delightful, bringing her much more into the story instead of just a bystander like a couple of them. (Like out of all the origin companions Astarion barely has any connection to any of the major players in the story, he's pretty self contained tbh.) Her sweetness, the way she says she's gonna eat dirt if you leave her camp, and her cheerful demeanor are just.... Amazing. I'm really running out of words for Karlach cause she is my favorite. I'm gonna have to start BG3 up again and actually play my romance run of her soon.

Honorable mentions: Shadowheart, Wyll, Astarion, Lae'zel, Dammon, Orin, Jaheira, Minthara, Isobel, Aylin

7. The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Ok, a bit of a cop out since, you know, they are the star of the show. BUT COME ON. The Doctor in their various iterations have been so enjoyable. My personal favorite is Tennet's 10, but Capaldi's 12 is a strong second. Its just a good show to binge at times. There are a lottta good episodes, a few really bad ones, but overall its a good time. The scene at the end of the special where they rescue Gallifrey is still one of my favorite scenes in the whole franchise. And hell, the Archeologist is based (loosely) on them, so how can I not include them?

Honorable mentions: DONNA NOBLE, Rose Tyler, Clara Oswald, Bill Potts, Me, Strax

8. Xion (Kingdom Hearts)

Have I mentioned I love tragic characters? Xion is literally the definition of tragedy, with all the problems with her just existing lol. Her presence in 358/2 Days really made the game for me. Roxas was kinda bland and having someone that was similar in age (like Sora, Riku and Kairi were) to interact with made it all that much better. AND SHE GETS THE HAPPY ENDING. Eventually. Boy is it a long road, but that's Kingdom Hearts for ya.

Honorable Mentions: Kairi, Namine, Riku, Sora, Aqua, Terra, Master Xehanort, Isa, Lea

8. Lucina (Fire Emblem)

I really wanna pick someone else in all honesty, but Fire Emblem has a worse problem than Hoyoverse games in their bit characters. :/ Lucina is a strong character that really delighted me when I played Awakening. She's such a surprise that it really helps make that Fire Emblem my favorite. She's got a good supporting cast too, with Robin and her dad Chrom, but Awakening was really her game. Chrom was kinda there just to be her dad lol

Honorable mentions: Robin, Chrom, Ike, Mist, Soren, Sumia, Erika, Marisa, Lyon, Elincia

9. Trevor Belmont (Castlevania)

Full disclosure, I have not played his game, in fact the only two castlevania's I have played both feature non Belmont's as the lead players (Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclasia). But the way Trevor is in the show, OH BOY. He is rough, he is blunt, he is smart, he is SOOOO dumb, he is loyal, he is a fighter, he never gives up, HE IS JUST GREAT. He's also one of my biggest Bi panics when he shows how much of a badass he is in episode, I think, 4 or 5 or later? Its been a hot minute since I watched that series. When he first uses the flail weapon that I forget the name of.

Honorable mentions: Shanoa, Jonathan Morris, Charlotte Aulin, Sypha Belnades, Alucard, Dracula

10. Aigis (Persona)

Aigis is a super cutie and I love her interactions with the female protagonist. I really wish P3 wasn't such a long game and Aigis actually showed up a little earlier. She's just a doll! I do need to try and find a copy (or emulate) FES to play the storyline with her as the lead singer. Its just so rough to get thru P3 I just lose motivation. T.T I've made it to the vacation part with the female lead, like, three times and no further cause my motivation tanks. WHICH IS WEIRD CAUSE THAT'S WHEN YOU MEET AIGIS. Its just too long for me I guess. XD

Honorable mentions: Teddie, Female lead P3, Male lead P4, Yukari Takeba, Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, Fuuka Yamagishi, Shinji Aragaki, Junpei Iori, Chidori Yoshino, Elizabeth, Theodore

Not gonna lie, kinda struggled to find a full 10 franchises to pull a character from. My mind just goes blank when asked my favorite character from X place. Names escape me and everything. XD But as you can see, I love robot girls, strong girls, mysterious girls, tragic girls, a fail man, and traveling weirdo.

#the rare leigh #oooooooof #this took like..... 2 hours lol #joking it was only like 1. #but still lol #ty for the tag Jak <3 #ty for the tag Mimble <3

[icehearts]

10 characters/10 fandoms/10 tags

Tagged by @shroudkeeper & @ubejamjar - thank you both! ♥ It's SO hard to narrow down my favorites but I'll try! Tagging (if you wanna! feel free to ignore!) @renjinguji | @sealrock | @tsunael

@paintedscales | @aethergazing

@sasslett | @chadhunkler | @snotsloth | @abalathia | @lavampira

1. Kainé - NieR Replicant. In trying to limit my answers to 10 separate fandoms, I had to narrow it down to one character for NieR including Drakengard, Automata, and Replicant. It's GOTTA be Kainé, though. I still get so emotional thinking about her.

2. Qifrey - Witch Hat Atelier. Witch Hat Atelier is an ongoing fantasy manga series and probably one of the best I've read. Qifrey is fascinating, flawed, and so much fun to watch (read?). Honestly, there are so many amazing and brilliantly written characters in WHA, it's hard to pick just one.

3. Solas - Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'll get some funny looks for this one, but Solas is THE Dragon Age character for me. I will not be explaining myself or taking any questions at this time. (Varric and Morrigan are strong runners-up though.)

4. Commander Shepard but specifically fem!Shep - Mass Effect. THE PROTAGONIST OF ALL TIME.

5. Kim Kitsuragi - Disco Elysium. Disco Elysium is a phenomenal game, and so much of that experience (for me) is due to Kim's presence. He's a professional, he's a dork, he's calm and collected to balance out Harry's, well, everything else.

6. Dale Cooper - Twin Peaks. I don't know if I have the words to accurately describe my love for Special Agent Dale Cooper.

7. Heather Mason - Silent Hill 3. My baby girl. My strong, god-killing daughter. I love Heather.

8. Cid Highwind - Final Fantasy VII. There are WAY too many Final Fantasy characters to choose from, but Cid goes here because he's the one who kickstarted my love for dragoons. (Other meaningful characters are Garnet, Kuja, Ignis, Rinoa, Freya, Ardyn, Ysayle, Fordola — honestly, I could fill out a separate list JUST for Final Fantasy characters.)

9 & 10. 2B & 9S - NieR Automata. Okay I broke down. I'm including them too.

#dear tumblr please fix your broken user tagging #please and thank youuuu #i could yap for hours about any of these characters if i'm being tbh #tagged tag

[lizzy-calaxio]

An Introduction Post!

Me, the mun, am Valerie, or Elizabeth! I have a lot of hours logged into FFXIV (over 10k hours) and I have written a lot of fics! I’m in the process of fully fleshing out my timeline, so bear with me as canon shifts. My house is on Ultros (Primal data center), plot 12 ward 28 of the lavender beds, come visit me!

I follow from @lizzy-frizzle

Beginner’s Guide that I made (currently working on updating for Endwalker): https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Oa07hkaQFIGJDxW8MyumcDHuhi5ZNAwbul9Lk6PuxA/edit

OC Information below the read more

Lizzy Frizzle: My main OC!

Age: she starts ARR at 17, and she’s currently 24 Gender: Trans Woman (She/Her) Orientation: Lesbian General Info: Lizzy is an Au Ra Raen that was orphaned early in her childhood, she grew up with her adoptive parents in the black shroud and following their deaths from the 7th umbral calamity, she spends a couple months on her own, then she gets taken in by the Sylphs and they teach her many things, for better or worse. She also excels in academics, and managed to create her own faerie to heal with, though she is uneducated and has no formal training. When she goes to sharlayan, she begins studying properly under Archon Conroy Rayne. Lizzy is polyamorous and as of current patch she is married to Brilliant Caladium, Sadu Dotharl, and Suzaku, while she is dating Shio Shinju.

Her Ancient is Iremia, a renowned Psychologist sporting powerful Emotion magic. Iremia desires to become Azem, but Emet-Selch shoots down the idea under the reasoning of "I don't want to lose the convocations best therapist" but Iremia knows the real reason is cause Emet views her as a little sister, and doesn't want her gallivanting off into dangerous places. At the end of shadowbringers, Lizzy discovers Iremia's apartment, and through mystical and magical means, gets to have a conversation with Iremia, this leads Iremia to bestowing Lizzy with her knowledge about Psychology, as well as her emotion magicks, though not as potent.

Lizzy’s children with parents:

Frizzle Rose – Lizzy/Bril - born right before stormblood Tranquil Grove – Lizzy/Bril - born right before stormblood Alice Frizzle – Lizzy/Sadu - born after shadowbringers

Ship tags: Lizzy/Bril – Brilizzy Lizzy/Sadu – Explosive Duo Lizzy/Shio – The idiots Lizzy/Fordola – Brooding Mess (bad ending AU)

Mono Rose: My secondary OC!

Age: she starts at 16 during the post-ARR stuff, she’s currently 22 Gender: Non-binary (She/They but don’t call her a girl) Orientation: Pansexual General Info: Mono Rose is a lalafell that lives with her family in the shroud. The oldest of 8 children, she strives to break out on her own and go on plenty of adventures. One day in the shroud she tries taking on a boar, only to stumble and get saved by Lizzy. Lizzy then teaches her how to properly use the bow and arrows, and Mono starts training to become a Bard. Mono thus looks up to Lizzy as a role model and hero, however, Mono refuses to join Lizzy and the Scions because she just wants low stakes adventures, so she frequently adventures with Bril. She also spends a lot of time babysitting Lizzy’s children.

Lizzy’s Children:

- Frizzled Rose (she/her) -appearance wise she takes after Lizzy a lot, but she's very much an angry ball of violence, her main job is Warrior and she is shorter than min height for roe (she's the same height as lizzy when fully grown, and she's pissed about it.) Frizzled wants to become a famous adventurer and save the world like Lizzy and Shio, but Lizzy is strongly against it and tries to keep her out of harms way. Frizzled often hangs out with Alice, only causing more problems around Ul Dah.

- Tranquil Grove (He/him) - appearance wise takes more after bril but still has lizzy elements, he also takes after lizzy's personality moreso, in that he's very peaceful and calm (we are ignoring black mage lizzy, shhhhh), he mains scholar and uses Lizzy's old codex that has her notes in it. He very much doesn't like violence, and tries to keep the peace often (struggling with Alice and Cota, or if Alice, Gwen, and Frizzled are in the same room). He gets along with Khaidai, they bond over their desire for non-violent solutions

- Alice Frizzle (She/they) – Alice was born half-blind due to the excess light aether in Lizzy on conception, due to this she is slightly more clumsy then the rest of the children. After she gets older, she can see fuzzy colors of people’s aether, though it doesn’t help much in a combative environment. Due to her half-blindness and brash personality, she receives numerous scars during her fights. She becomes a notorious (monk) bodyguard in Ul Dah, where her reputation is only held up by the fact that none of her clients ever get injured, despite her reckless behaviour.

#ffxiv #pinned post

[senespera-ffxiv]

Unorganized Stormblood Thoughts That I Typed Into My Media List

FFXIV: Stormblood

Rating and overall thoughts for the MSQ: 4/5, ranges from excellent to good with a few glaring problems in the form of Lyse etc. but overall I am relatively satisfied with how they explored the premise that was set up at the end of Heavensward Patch Quests

Rating and overall thoughts for the patch quests: Haven’t done them yet

so like Lyse is. A Character. That had potential and then it got increasingly obvious that said potential was in an alternate version of the game that spent more time on her before Stormblood.

Apart from Lyse, Stormblood can probably be split into three separate sections. Ala Mhigo Part 1, Doma, Ala Mhigo Part 2.

Ala Mhigo Part 1 was. Well, it was largely unremarkable apart from That Part where Rhalgr’s Reach gets fucking decimated. As much as Zenos basically doesn’t do anything, this part really does help establish how Fucking Insane he is. I think I would’ve preferred a situation where he naturally yeeted you instead of the “Concentrativity but on steroids” thing he did (preferably some sort of system where each cast of Concentrativity gives you a stack of Stagger which at 5 turns into Down for the Count that way it can be implemented in normal gameplay too as a sort of soft enrage for the Ala Mhigo dungeon) but his intimidation factor is at an 11. Also really liked how it went along a route that showed how inexperienced Lyse is at all of this, was a lot of good setup for character growth (just unfortunate that they kind of. skipped like. all of it.)

Doma was really good, like the story itself felt around the same quality as Heavensward MSQ (so like a 4/5 for me). What I appreciated more was what I assume to be meta-commentary on chinese myth, specifically King Wu of Zhou’s overthrow of King Zhou of Shang. It was so cool slowly finding out that Gosetsu, that one guy who just kinda showed up in the ARR patch quests, was actually fucking Jiang Ziya and then finding Hien and everything and then they folded in a Cyan reference at the same time and I just oooough I love it when you synthesize references into a new thing it’s so neat. And it was a really really good examination of the circumstances that both inhibit and promote revolution in oppressed areas.

Also Yugiri is quite literally best character that scene with her having to confront the sheer hopelessness of the situation was genuinely heartbreaking, especially because of how well the voice actor delivered those lines. Like holy shit, why can’t Lyse be like this

Ala Mhigo Part 2 was good, still relatively unremarkable up until those final few hours cuz holy fucking shit the hype during that entire segment was so good. It was like the perfect energetic leadup to the Ala Mhigo dungeon and OUGH THAT DUNGEON I LOVE THAT DUNGEON SO FUCKING MUCH the way that people randomly help you go forward, the bosses, especially the boss fight against Zenos like that boss fight against Zenos is possibly the most difficult dungeon boss I have encountered so far it is Insane I also love it to bits as a narrative device showing how Zenos is difficult to conquer but with the help of your allies and a little bit of training he can be overcome, just not without a lot of difficulty

AND HAVE I MENTIONED THE FIGHT AGAINST SHINRYU that trial was some of the most Batshit content I have fucked around with like Holy Shit what is happening this is cool as shit I wanna know more LEMME AT THE EXTREME MODE

My problems with Lyse are twofold

Bit of a white savior complex ya got going on there huh

Where’s the character development

The white savior complex thing shouldn’t be too surprising, I think they realized it too cuz every single Ala Mhigan character is dark skinned except for her and Fordola and while I am absolutely not discounting the very likely possibility that Ala Mhigo is not an ethnostate it still feels a bit icky if you know what I mean. Not to mention how she perpetually acts like it’s White Girl Wednesday lmao. This segues into the character development thing which is to say she has none where did it go did Hien eat it

Like seriously did Hien eat all of her character development because it all sorta just happens offscreen and those few opportunities where she does have some time to do some real self-reflecting they deflect it with her usual impulsive herbo gag. It would’ve been interesting to see her really struggle with her flaws, be actively reprimanded for said flaws, and through the help of her allies slowly understand just what it is she needs to do (which is to be more like Hien or Yugiri but in her own unique way)

The resolution to her character is perfect, she acts exactly like how I thought she would. Angry, impulsive, but not impulsive enough to do anything rash. She’s figured out how to rein it in so she can become a decent leader but hasn’t let go of that fiery drive that’s defined her character for the past two expansions/arcs and I do think that if they just filled in more of the character development (and also devoted more time to her in ARR/Heavensward for more than just like. meme gags) she could’ve been actually Really Good. Oh well, she’s not really gonna be in the spotlight that much from now on anyways it seems

#ffxiv #stormblood #rando thoughts

[whimsykeii]

I said it on Twitter and I’ll say it here: I don’t find Lyse annoying, and don’t understand how the fandom can mostly agree that she is annoying. I will also gripe about the colorism disguised as nepotism here because Tumblr doesn’t have a small character count >:)

Lyse is so annoying!

How? Because she has insecurities and thinks everything should work the way she thinks it should? Her naivete is annoying, but she fixes that the more she journeys with the WoL and Alisaie. Alisaie is just as headstrong as she is, but Alisaie had time during the Bahamut raids to check her privilege and see other people’s perspective about the world around them. In Heavensward, Alisaie tells the player she came to Eorzea to understand why her beloved grandfather sacrificed everything for a people who are still fighting amongst themselves, unknowing or uncaring about the lives lost to protect them. Unlike Alphinaud, Alisaie wanted to be proven wrong about her view of Eorzea. Alphinaud thought he knew what was best, enabled by the adults around him, and paid the price for it.

Lyse doesn’t deserve to lead the Resistance and in turn Ala Mhigo.

Lyse didn’t have that same growing period because she’s been pretending to be someone else. This is her growing period. The Yda she knew fought for justice, for freedom from imperial oppression. Lyse doesn’t know whether or not Yda would stay her hand in a bid to keep others from facing retaliation at the hands of Garlemald, knowing the people they are trying to save don’t have the luxury of the Scions at their beck and call. Lyse learns very quickly that the life she lived was privileged and fortunate. Lyse had people who could, would and wanted to protect her and keep her safe.

Even if the whole "not actually Yda" thing came as a surprise during Heavensward, her interaction with Gundobald- known friend of both her sister and her father- hints that something is amiss. Papalymo regrets giving her that mask, which further cements that "Yda" is hiding something.

We literally end Heavensward with Lyse saying she'll start being herself from then on, in honor of Papalymo's sacrifice. Lyse starts off Stormblood trying to find herself after having lived in her sister and father's shadows for so long.

I get where you’re coming from. I don’t think Conrad should have named her commander either, because it’s nepotism. It’s nepotism on paper, and colorist nepotism in its execution. M'naago would be a much more qualified candidate, having worked so closely with Conrad long before Lyse officially joined the Resistance. Given Lyse's personality, she would have loved to be M'naago's second-in-command.

Ala Mhigo is a mountainous desert area with people who have darker skin. Curtis and Yda are noticeably darker than Lyse and yet Lyse looks like your standard white girl. Not that pale skinned people can't and don't live in hot or arid climates (see Fordola), but they are certainly the minority. Japan has a bad habit of having pale skinned people living in sunny, hot areas with the implication that they have generational ancestry there, and it's even more jarring when their political leadership is extremely paler than its general populace. It’s hot and there is a lot of sun. What happens if you spend all day out in the sun? Your skin tans to handle the amount of UV light your body is absorbing. That’s why people closer to the equator are generally darker.

Nanamo is a prime example of this. Should she be similar to Raubahn in skin tone? That would be nice, but she should at least be tanner than what she is in-game. But no. The white savior complex would never allow the political faces of the desert nation trying to free themselves to have a leader darker than a brown paper bag.

Lyse works with those around her. She knows her limitations and that she is more of a follower/independent agent than a leader. So she doesn't bid for sole responsibility of Ala Mhigo, she wants it to be a democracy. She doesn't act like Alphinaud and assume her way is the best way, and will defer to other people's judgements unless it's obvious that it is coming from a defeatist attitude.

I get it if you don't like Lyse for the way other people make her take credit for things she didn't really do, but let's not pretend she's got no redeeming qualities.

#kei rambles

[rosafulmen]

I  have  a  few  thoughts  around  an  XIV  verse  for  Lightning.  I  know  she  had  a  limited  time  quest  way  back  when  that  kind  of  makes  her  canonical  to  the  game,  but  the  nebulous ‘far  away  hero’  thing  doesn’t  really  do  it  for  me  within  the  greater  context  of  the  game.  I’ve  got  some  loose  ideas  below.  There  are  some  mild  Endwalker  spoilers  here  (  zone  3  /  healer quests  ),  so  be  warned.

Whilst  I  don’t  think  Lightning  is  Garlean,  I  do  like  the  idea  of  her  coming  from  somewhere  in  occupied  Garlemald  - much  like  how  Fordola  joined  the  Crania  Lupi.  She  would  have  done  it  to  help  protect  herself  and  Serah,  giving  them  a  chance  to  move  into  the  city  proper  and  try  to  prosper  past  their  ‘savage’  status.  Though  she  does  hold  an  extreme  amount  of  guilt  over  abandoning  her  people,  she  felt  it  was  the  best  choice forged  between  a  rock  and  a  hard  place.

Both girls  would  know  magic,  but  because  of  it  being  outlawed  they  would  have  rarely  practiced  until  Lightning  gained  the  Echo.  She would  have  been  one  of  the  last  it  was bestowed upon, and would have been her greatest protection against the influence of Anima.

While  the  visions  of  the  city’s  fall were weak,  it  was  enough  for  her  to  collect  a  radio  and  keep  herself  and  some  of  her  immediate  company  in  the  Garlean  forces  safe.  Her  sister,  however,  was  less  lucky  and  became  tempered  as  a  result,  assisting  in  the  summoning  of  Anima.

Much  of  Lightning’s  work,  then,  would  be  assisting  the  Eorzean  forces  as  she  tries  to  find  out  what  happened  to  Serah;  cultivating  in  her  eventually  assisting  the  Scions  /  Eorzean  Alliance with  the  scouting  of  greater  Ilsabard.

#* origin of storms ( headcanons ) #importing from the old blog !

[ofdragonsdeep]

14: Commend

An acquaintance sits in a dismal gaol, and Ar'telan makes a courtesy call.

(Spoilers for SB, ShB sort of)

The sharp tang in the air of the Lochs accompanied Ar’telan on his walk across the great stone bridge to the capital. Beneath him, the vast expanse of the salt lakes stretched, now narrated by the hum and clang of machinery and hammers in the saltery at its edge. The rest of the land, though, still seemed like a skeleton resting where the beast had died, signal fires flickering to mark where it had fallen. The sparse forests of zelkova trees, stalked by manticores and ghosts, the bone-white fish which stalked the lakes, the uneasy fog that settled over the place, all of it added to the sense of decay.

The druvas had been cleared from the bridge in recent days, and so his only meeting was with the guards on the gate. In the many moons since Ala Mhigo’s liberation, the guard had been taught fast vigilance, both against the threat of primals and of Garlean incursion. He was so well-recognised that he was barely bothered on his way through, only a cursory check to ensure he was not an enemy of the state walking in under wicked glamour.

There were any number of attractions within the walls of the capital to captivate a traveler’s attention. A small Ironworks outpost still worked on the question of the Weapons the Garleans had made to throw against both their traitor and their unruly territories, ready to ferry a would-be warrior to the main camp. Citizens played Triple Triad by the aetheryte, eyeing him as he passed to see if he would be amenable to a challenge. The palace, now the seat of a more democratic form of government, offered the chance to reconnect with old friends. And the Royal Menagerie, with its fields of beautiful flowers, suggested a chance for reflection on things long gone and events to come.

Ar’telan ignored all of them, instead walking down the terracotta streets until he was within the mountains the city backed, the guards on the door offering an uneasy nod of acknowledgement as he passed them. Under the rock, the uncomfortable pulse of the sky was easier to ignore, and the thoughts he carried with him were easier to find.

The royal gaol, repurposed into a place to hold the many prisoners of war that had not been killed in the war for liberation. Some of them resented their captivity, some of them would have betrayed their birthplace to the Empire without a second thought. Some of them longed for redemption, cells lying empty as they laboured in civil service under strict watch. And some…

He was not the man he had been when he had first been down here. He took a moment, centred his aether. For all the hell that Hades had wrung from him, he had learned a little, though he was not sure if it would be enough. For all they called the Resonance an artificial Echo, it was a strange beast only alike in the broadest strokes. But perhaps it would do the job.

The cell was still sparse, despite the time that had passed between Fordola’s initial confinement and now. Her clothes were nicer, less rough hemp, but the collar around her neck - dormant without a mage to activate it, but still abhorrent in its purpose - served as an unkind reminder of her station.

“You,” she said, her voice level. He nodded to her, and there was a moment of absolute silence. Her thoughts were a concealed mystery, but her feelings felt loud behind her wall, amplified by two Echo-likes in proximity. She did not flinch.

“I had hoped they would be treating you better, by now,” Ar’telan remarked, and Fordola scoffed, though it was clear she was still confused by the situation that had found her opposite the man who had put her here to begin with.

“Kill a few primals, slay a few beastmen. It doesn’t matter to them,” she said, venom in her voice, but it was tired poison now. “Why are you here?” It was a question, not one he could come up with an answer for, not an easy one. Now that the danger had passed in the First, he did not think it would be long until something surfaced to demand their attention, but for the moment they stood in the lull.

“I wanted to be sure you were ok,” he said, offering a tiny smile. “It’s my fault you’re in here, after all.” Fordola scoffed.

“I put myself in here,” she disagreed. “You and I both know that. Maybe it would have been easier if I hadn’t taken their devil’s bargain, but under it all I’m still the Empire’s Butcher.” Ar’telan sighed, sitting down against the wall opposite her cell door. They had been here before, more than once, and she never warmed to him - not that he expected her to, nor would ever want her to, unless she wished it - but every time things changed.

“Has it eased?” he asked her, and she winced at the question.

“What does it matter to you?” she demanded, even though both of them knew that he had taken every effort to shield his soul from her resonant eyes, to stop her from reliving the horrors in his past just this once.

“They don’t care to ask about it, do they?” he surmised, and she made an irritable noise. “I have-”

“I don’t need your help,” she spat. “And I don’t want it. You think they don’t relish in me seeing the hurt I’ve caused them?” Ar’telan held out a hand, a tiny spark of aether gathering in it. The Light suffused it, shimmering in the darkness of the prison complex, still there despite his victory over it. As she moved forwards, he snuffed it out.

“Perhaps I do not want your sympathy either,” he said, and she recoiled, surprise in the coil of her limbs and a scowl on her face. “It does not have to be a competition, or an exchange of pity. It does need to gain either of us anything, for good or for ill. It has been many moons since the war ended, after all.” Fordola made an irritated noise.

“Then I will consider it,” she said, a compromise he had not expected to achieve with her. “Bah, you’re both as bad as each other. At least it’s easier to tune you out than the boy.” Ar’telan stifled a laugh at that. He knew a little of Fordola’s work with Arenvald and the summoners working with the Flames, dealing with summonings out in Thanalan. Echo was Echo, even by a different name.

I wonder what Hades would think to that?

“I will give you time to think on it,” he said, pushing himself to his feet as she retreated back to her pallet. “Duty calls me back here more often than most would like, I think, so I shall call in when I can.”

“Don’t rush on my account,” she muttered, bitterness still in her voice.

---

It had been Arenvald that told him the story.

The young Scion was ever excitable, and he had been brimming with pride as he had relayed the story of their fight with Ifrit, holding back the Tempered servants who had summoned it, helping to rid the land of the scourge of the summon for just a little longer. It was a different story to the one that Jajasamu had relayed - a bitter man angry with himself for misjudging the convict, and the threat they faced, feeling lesser in his need to stay back from the full brunt of the primal’s fury. Ar’telan wondered if it would have helped them to know of his first fight with a primal, in the same summoning circle at Zanr’ak, blood drawn from the stone of desperation.

He had asked how Ar’telan felt. Ar’telan had offered a reassuring platitude, acceptance of duty and necessity, and he wasn’t sure that he had been believed.

---

The first time he had gone to see her had been after the war was over. When the Qalyana summoned their goddess into a council hall and he had held the line with Arenvald and Fordola, and she had thrown her blade to the floor and walked away. Rejected the idea of death, and shunned the idea of redemption.

The guards had tried to dissuade him as he walked past them into the gaol. He had stood in front of her and neither had spoken a word, her mind overwhelmed with every bitter memory in his mind, every wound the fight had inflicted, everything he mourned. She had looked up at him, hand over her resonant eye as if it would stop the flood, and asked him how he coped.

“I don’t.”

---

The second time he had been met with less protest, at least from the guard. Again he had sat himself outside her cell, her mouth shut in stubborn silence, his hands in his lap lest she think he want to dominate the conversation. The Echo had shown him, when they had been enemies yet, what had happened to her father for the crime of making do in an impossible situation. She waited for him to use it against her, but he did not. In truth, he already had - keeping the secrets close to his heart as he told Lyse that he did not want her to be executed, to the idealistic woman’s surprise. When had it ever been black and white, under the boot of the Empire? He had seen what happened to the people who resisted. Visited the graves of the soldiers, heard the stories of the collateral damage weeping in a half-empty village.

Maybe it was selfish. In the days since, when he had pleaded for mercy for those driven to awful, cruel things, when he saw them crumble in the cell, when the people demanded blood and received it, one way or another, he had thought it might be. The blasted fields of Bozja haunted him still, the memories of a broken Queen and Misija’s choices - one way or another, they were always chosen, even if the perpetrators convinced themselves there was no such choice at all. But still he had begged mercy, that if she had to face the headsman’s axe then it would be after fair judgement. He had stood and watched people break upon the battlefield, and known, innately, that there was no judgement that could be fair.

“You got nothing better to do, warrior of light?” Fordola had spat eventually. “I don’t need the theatre of your head to make my day worse. Got plenty of that already.” Ar’telan had shrugged.

“I thought you might like the company,” he replied, and she scoffed at him. Was the wound too fresh, he had wondered? Of when they had faced off on the field of battle, her resonance overwhelmed by Urianger’s siphon, her choices rendered meaningless in the dust?

“You know how many I’ve killed. Surely there’s better company to keep than me.”

“You know how many I have killed, too.”

She was quiet then, for a long moment, before shaking her head.

“Thought it didn’t count, for you. Killing the Empire. They’re the enemy, aren’t they?”

“As we were yours. The choice is the same. That I am on the side of the victor doesn’t make mine right, and yours wrong.”

“Was that why he wanted to fight you, then? Zenos, I mean.”

The question had caught him off-guard, but eventually he had managed to offer a shrug.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I presented an opportunity to him - a potential for challenge. If I could reach him and face him, then he would need to work to overcome the obstacle. It made him try - think, persevere, strive. It made him feel. I understand it in theory.” Fordola had sighed, shaking her head slightly, though not in disagreement.

“It’s all mad. All of it mad,” she had decided, and Ar’telan had not been able to disagree.

---

The fog had lifted when Ar’telan walked out into the streets of Ala Mhigo, the sun twinkling with the last few moments of the light before it set. It wasn’t perfect - what ever was? - but it was something, and he would let that be enough. If one day she would be able to accept what had happened to give her the gift, if she would go from stony to acerbic, if she would leave the cell and be allowed her freedom, then his plea to Lyse all those moons ago would have meant something.

He did not carry Arenvald’s hope, that she would heal, forgive herself, move on. He had been in the chamber where Krile had been held, where they had stamped the gift into the giftless through brute force. He had felt the aether, the dozens of souls whose lives blazed in her Resonant light. She would never forgive herself for making that choice, and to ask it of her was too much. All you could do was see the death that lined your path forward, and make do.

She would not think it the same, he thought. That the people he had killed - conscripts and volunteers and natives, all equal at the end of the day, on the other side of the Warrior of Light - were the same as the ones that she had damned when she had accepted the experiment. They did not see the world the same way at all, not any more. She was bitter and hard like stone, retreating inward at the cruelty. His mask was passive, the smiles genuine, the burden accepted if only to make sure that no-one else ever had to walk the path that he had. But she yet had room to heal. There was space for her and the souls that walked with her, for better or worse, guided by the hand of the Resistance until they trusted her to guide herself.

And when the day came, Ar’telan would welcome her with a smile.

#Fordola best girl #no I haven't played 5.5 yet why do you ask #ffxivwrite2021 #ff14 #Warrior of Light (solo story) #If she's not a Trust npc in EW I will riot #you hear me squenix #I WILL RIOT

[liketheinferno2]

Christing fuck I love Asahi what a terrible little man. A sussy baka. He looks like one of those violent berry-eyed dogs. I want to throttle him. He's so annoying. His voice, nails on a chalkboard. Good villaining.

Absolutely fucking hysterical that Zenos apparently had his own little yandere fanboy following him around like can I suck you off so sweetly king and did not care or notice. It's what Asahi deserves. He's 100% genuine conniving little shit. I love it.

Perfect face also and I mean that from an art direction perspective, they're getting better and better at making characters that look like whole, expressive designs within the technical bounds of the FFXIV characters being built on base bodies 99% of the time, and this guy in particular has this... THING where when his face is at rest he looks like he's flaying you in his mind and then he smiles to cover it up lol

I've just been taking pictures because we've hit that part of the patches where they start unleashing all these technical advances in the game on you at once and Stormblood has 1. trial-like duty mechanics, 2. CAMERA ANGLES AND CINNAMONTOGRAPHY, 3. 'spressions.

Aside from Asahi you fucking whore bitch I also took photos of@xx-vampycat-xx's oc girls

This of Lyse and Fordola, I know these are literally just cutscene screenshots but this game is starting to look FANTASTIC even beyond what it already was, which I already consider like. The best art style a final fantasy has ever had for full-proportioned characters. You don't NEED fancy post processing to do framing real good.

Pipin and papa lol

And Alpinaud and Arenvald have just been. Fucking adorable lol hashtag teenz, hashtag single dad, these are my lil mans but one is gigantic

#dante plays catboy simulator #let him speak

[autumnslance]

EW Role Quests - Lyn's Thoughts

Having done them all now, I think they're overall mostly decent stories, each having their rough points and highlights.

In all cases there's very little actual combat happening; some here and there in a couple quests, but I barely touched my weapons in most cases until the final blasphemy fight. I didn't necessarily mind that--I play for story after all--I just thought it was weird.

It felt a little strange to not get them at all until 85, and then having them every level through 90. It does make it fit a little awkwardly into MSQ; I guess during however long it takes everyone to answer the call for aid and get to Sharlayan while the Scions knock about Labyrinthos is the best/only time one could fit them into MSQ (given they'd all have to have their expeditions, and then sail/fly to the island, which takes a week or two).

My thoughts/feelings on each of the role quests and a rough ranking below the cut. Arbitrary, subjective, mileage varies, etc.

Healer comes out on top for me; we get more Ala Mhigo focus after it got ignored in its own expansion. There's a continuing thread at the hard work of piecing the nation together and how to reintegrate not only refugees returning home, but also those who felt they had no choice but to collaborate with the Garleans, and how difficult that is. I like how Arenvald has made this his new task to aid Raganfrid with the Silver Griffins, and Fordola's character growth and redemption arc continues. We get to hang with Raubahn, and get a moment to meet with the Sultana. Arenvald also gets some growth and reassurance as he develops new skills while readjusting to his new reality, and meeting Nanamo has an impact. I was so proud of his letters to the leaders of Gyr Abania, too. Basically takes all the points from Ala Mhigo's part of Stormblood, touches on things brought up in some side content, and delivers a decent Mhigan-focused story on how the nation is moving forward post-occupation. Feelings on the healer quests will depend on how much one liked the Ala Mhigan side of StB and the polarizing opinions on a main character involved, really.

The parallel with the 2021 Rising stories comes with Fordola's interactions with a little girl, turning out much better than Yda's interactions with young Fordola.

---------------

Melee may come in second for me, having done it tonight. It does suffer a touch from so much of the Company of Heroes' quests and stories being ARR side content, so likely skipped by many folks, or long forgotten by others (especially parts like the Moogle Mail Delivery quests, where Landanel's got a segment), and most MSQ memory being the pre-Titan shenanigans and mentions here and there. But it continues Merlwyb trying to put the good ship Vylbrand to rights, by working with the sahagin as she has the kobolds. Riol gets a linkpearl-only cameo working with his former crew. There's a lot of good and fairly unique interaction for the WoL here with everyone. The 2021 Rising story parallel is another point of view telling on Bloefhis and Merlwyb eventually having to kill him when he was tempered, and the different paths that led her and her shipmate on. Makes it easy to guess what's coming in the role quests, but that's not a bad thing. This blasphemy battle was roughest for me, but that might have been how late I did it, too.

------------------

Aiming ranks near the bottom for me. Gosetsu and his development is a highlight, as is Yugiri sneaking home in her old ARR costume and the meeting with her parents where I'm pretty sure her mom recognized her but was playing just as cagey as her famous shinobi daughter. Those are the bright points. The rest is a bit of a mess thanks to Doma also suffering the split story of StB and the 4.2 and 4.3 patch story being what it was. Some can be attributed to Hien's lack of experience and no good model of governance; he really should have explained the situation with Yotsuyu ages ago, but that whole plot was mishandled, especially in the time and space a MMO could give it (not much), so the clumsiness continues here. Yotsuyu is also only ever mentioned as a problem, but with a national funeral ceremony, you'd think Gosetsu would have something sweet to contribute (I assume he did we just didn't see/hear about it for privacy). The antagonist's plot concept was interesting, but we never really got her motivation for why she did what she did, either; this was a lifelong habit, not just new, what was new was her using this to rebel against Hien. I dunno, I'll replay it soon on an alt and see if I like it a bit better with the context of the others.

The 2021 Rising story tie in is Hien and Yugiri's lifelong friendship, and Gosetsu bailing them out of some trouble they got into at Swallow's Compass as children, a theme that repeats itself in the modern era.

Again, this one might depend on how much one liked the Doman side of StB and cared about those characters or not.

EDIT ADDENDUM: Redoing this post-EW instead of during MSQ maybe helped, also just the general "have had time to process more of EW" at all. I think it does move up over tank for me, in the end. The funeral service is rather lovely all told, and the story of Minato is woven well through it, as well as the ideas of grief and remembrance. I think it's just my general neutrality on and the over-saturation of all things Doma compared to other aspects of StB that got me the first time through.

-----------------

Tank is middle of the road. More padjal lore, which is also from the 2021 Rising, but it goes further back than Kan-E's difficulty hearing the elementals until she realized she had to work as a triad with her siblings. Gridania has gotten the least amount of spotlight time and plot movement in the story, and it shows. The xenophobia issues are never addressed, and when people of Gridania come together, it's mostly hyurs and wildwoods, with a token duskwight but not a keeper in sight. I like Kan-E, E-Sumi, and padjal lore in general, it's right up my alley, and the blasphemy's tragedy is just "this person could never get a break" so the story works all right but if Gridania had any story in the last ten years, the role quest could have been improved.

Also, the Keeper of Entwined Serpents STILL doesn't get a name, though reiterates his backstory, first told in Kan-E's first Rising story back in ARR. At this point I think everyone knows the WoL forgot/never asked the guy's name and now they're just withholding it on purpose to screw with us.

--------------

Caster is low ranked, and as a disclaimer some of that I know is my personal bias to anything Ward related. This is one of those very few times where the fandom has soured me on a concept.

So that said, Caster is otherwise just there. In some ways, returning to Ishgard is as comfortable as the original trio of cities. In other ways, it's tiring to get the same plot after all this time. I like hanging with Aymeric and Artoirel, figuring out how the people reconcile their faith and the Church with the lies of the last thousand years is fascinating. It's just been touched on in other side content, like the Scholasticate quests (though it is an ongoing process). Just one that feels like there's been no progress on, unlike Limsa's story. Ala Mhigo and Doma being newer gives their ongoing stories sense, but Ishgard feels like its spinning its wheels at this point. Especially after all the hope and joy and progress of the Firmament last expac.

As an American playing a Japanese-based game, there's the awkward convo about the statues of the original Knights Twelve, but that's likely different cultural connotations and beliefs, and Aymeric's opinion is just that, and is given neutrally where one can disagree or not as one wishes (also they'd have to phase Ishgard to look different here too and that's going to start getting messy so some of it might honestly be "we don't want to code that").

If not for the Ward connection, this'd tie with the Tank for me--it's simply that nothing stands out nor feels new. The 2021 Rising connection is in Aymeric and Artoirel working together in this chain; while the short story is framed in the modern political climate, the main point of the story is in their first meeting as boys.

================

Anyway, there you have it; my personal arbitrary subjective opinions and observations on the roles this time.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Endwalker #6.0 Spoilers #Role Quests #city states #blogging #about me

[storms-path]

My girl Lyse? Everyone seems to shit on her but I think she's doing her best!

How I feel about this character

Love love love love LOVE Lyse! Truth be told, I was hoping someone would ask about her for a while. She’s kind, she’s strong, she’s courageous, she’s dumb as a sack of bricks, she’s passionate as hell. She also doesn’t let her lack of understanding stop her from trying to learn and do better in the future, which is an admirable trait. Lyse was my favourite of the Scions back when she was Yda and she’s still my favourite now.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

-points at self-

Well okay, it’s a case of two ships in my head. In the canon where Arashi is the main WoL (my own canon, which I should really expand upon some time) it’s Arashi x Lyse the whole damn way. Those two idiots are made for each other. Where Arashi isn’t the main WoL (syngigeim’s canon, which she’s written a fair bit on already), it’s Lyse x Fordola. Enemies to lovers is a good ship for a reason and I think Lyse dragging Fordola to redemption and acceptance kicking and screaming is a great setup for that romance to blossom.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Papalymo and Y’shtola. It’s clear in all of Lyse’s thoughts on Papalymo that she idolises the man, and the fact that he allowed her to act as her sister while she processed her grief shows the respect and love he held for her in return. As for Y’shtola, jock with a heart of solid gold and snarky book nerd is a great combination, and those two do a wonderful job of making it work.

My unpopular opinion about this character

She’s not ready to lead Ala Mhigo at the end of 4.0, but dammit, she’s trying, and in 4.1 she really comes into her own as a leader and as her own person. Her determination and drive to succeed are evident in everything she does, and she’s not nearly as stupid as people think. She wants to learn, she wants to better herself, and she’ll put every effort into being the leader Ala Mhigo deserves. For Yda and Curtis, for Papalymo, but most of all for her people.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

More screen-time? I want more of Lyse even if she’s been relegated to the City-State Leader Penalty Box. I want to see how well she’s developed as a leader from the time we spent with her in Stormblood. I want to see how she’s grown as a person, too. Just gimme more, SE. More!

#ff14 #final fantasy 14 #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #lyse hext #yda hext #i jumped the queue on this one and i don't care #lyse is mah gurl #i've honestly been waiting for someone to ask about the Stormblood ladies since i started #so thank you for letting me gush unabashedly #character asks

[thecat-inthehat]

Me: oh man I hope Alisaie gets some good content this patch, she’s the best girl and deserves the world, and she’s been lacking a bit. 

Me: she really deserves some payoff considering how much the game and narrative beats down on her constantly, repeatedly compares her to her brother, never gives her a break, and just kinda uses her pain to hurt the player so you know something’s horrible. 

Me: I mean like, shit, the trauma conga line started with Ga Bu back in 3.4, on top of her short story, on top of the Binding Coils of Bahamut, and then it just continues on into having her beat up in Stormblood. I mean like, that whole thing where she worries over Alphinaud being inside the Specula Imperatoris while it collapsed, then she gets beat up by a newly powered Fordola to illustrate just how dangerous Fordola is now, and she gets sidelined until the patches. Oh, and then in the patches, she gets to watch her entire family collapse one by one, after her brother leaves for dangerous enemy territory, and she’s wracked with worry and guilt for months on end. And then she outright begs you not to leave her, terrified of what might happen, her fingers desperately trying to reach you as the Call sounds. 

And then the narrative further shits on her by assuming you go to Alphinaud first, despite how horribly she’s taken from you, and you never get to really confront the fact that she never got much closure for all that trauma. And then Tesleen!! Man, can’t forget about how horrifying it was for her to see one of her best friends in this new world get killed and transformed into a sin eater, only for that to be a mid dungeon boss fight with no emotional weight given to it other than a floating text box of “Alisaie? You’ve gone pale...” and no resolution, because the second half of Ahm Araeng is about Thancred, Minfilia, and Ryne. Yeah, she gets a little line after Malikah’s Well that has her look up to the sky and promise to Tesleen to save the world, but that’s pretty weak. And then she gets to watch you disintegrate into Light, and have her desperately searching for a cure, an answer, something to save you. I mean yeah! She gets to help Halric claw his way back to lucidity, but it feels a bit like “too little, too late”, you know? 

And like, all this is on top of the fact that the narrative gives you chances to criticize her or act as her mentor, which is iffy at best, but then there’s also the implications that she’s got a crush on you, the WoL, and that she’s somewhat written with romantic intent so you can ship with her if you like. Despite the fact that she’s canonically 16. Oh, and some of the official art of her is questionable at best, intentionally sexy or objectifying at worst. Oh, and her narrative usually comes down to “good, but always second best” no matter who she’s foiling off of. It’s great! 

Me: [internally screaming] yeah I hope she gets some good content this patch :) I love my daughter :)

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #Alisaie #alisaie leveilleur #can you tell i'm frustrated #this post is gonna age like milk #i can tell already #puts on my clown nose

[ladyramora]

MerRam Part 3 Zenos

Asahi kept his eyes on the horizon, watchful for signs of large fins or tails in the water… not like there had been any in the past couple of hours….

…Or that he’d even see fin or tail of those disgusting fish people anymore! After their first couple of catches, those damned things had been more careful. They’d nearly managed a huge haul not too long ago, but apparently they underestimated those undersea cretins.

they could use magic.

They used a powerful earth spell to flip the boat and those in it were attacked by sharks. The few survivors from that boat were questioned and sent back out to the waters to continue their searches, since they failed to bring back a single monster…

He closed his eyes and frowned, why was his Lord so enamored at finding monsters and freakish creatures as opponents, as it wasn’t for the satisfaction of making those freaks leave this plane of existence. If he really wanted a true opponent, they had the powerful Scions of the Seventh Dawn in their prison cells on the boat. If he really wanted a challenge, he could simply use them to entertain him…

Or you know, maybe spar with him sometime… in the bedroom.

But before he could indulge in a fantasy of crossing swords with his Prince, he heard something odd…

Voices. Beautiful voices.

Asahi opened up his map and looked at his compass, the sound seemed to be coming from a well known ship graveyard…

He perked up.

Sirens.

Those stupid fish freaks were leading him right to them!

“Get us closer to the voices!” He commanded, pointing in the direction he wanted them to go.

“But sir…” The soldier protested.

Asahi pulled his blade free of it’s sheathe and held it to the throat of the person in heavy, black armor, “There. Now.”

“Y-yes sir!” The soldier sputtered before adjusting the motor and sending them flying towards the sounds.

Asahi certainly felt as if he were soaring as they closed the distance, he could see wrecked ships, covered in seaweed and the wood worn from the waves and rocks jutting out from the waters.

“COME TO ME YOU WILY TEMPTRESSES OF THE SEA!!” He shouted eagerly as they finally entered the graveyard.

“Temptresses?” A low voice purred as two female faces peered from behind a large chunk of rock before two women carefully walked around it and looked at the ship with broad smiles on their faces, “Hmm… I kind of like that.” The taller of the two women said, an elezen woman now that he got a good look at her. Her mismatched eyes gleaming with dark pleasures and her smile alluring as she licked her lips. He struggled to keep a straight face at the sight of her. She seemed like one of those kinds of people who could seduce anyone with just a low purr and a mere moment of skin contact.

Forget Sirens, he’d probably just found a Succubus.

“I prefer Sorceress.” The smaller, pink woman said, her voice sweet to the point where Asahi felt his stomach churning. He never liked sweets and this girl looked as if she was sugary sweet innocence personified, a surprising contrast to her companion, who was more spice and sex appeal…

And at the mention of sorcery, he finally realized that the two were armed. He held out his blade, his eyes narrowed, “Are you Sirens planning an ambush?”

“Sirens?” the sultry one repeated, her expression slipping from false surprise to amusement, “Well, I suppose we are good singers, but as you can see, we are not half bird.”

“…What?” Asahi said, lowering his weapon a bit.

“Sirens are half bird, half human.” The pink one piped up, “People get them confused with mermaids often, so we can understand the confusion.”

“… So you are Mermaids?” He asked, holding his sword back at the ready again as the dark haired Succubus smiled and walked towards them and turned around, “Do you see fins or a tail?” she asked, her laugh warm and probably what others would see as a relaxing sound, the experience seeming to be like a warm mug of mead on a cold night if his soldiers’ reactions were anything to go by.

The smaller one followed suit, giggling along with her friend, the sound melodic and cheerful, “No gills either!” she assured them with a smile.

Ugh, Asahi could hear his armored boat mates melting into putty by these two women and they weren’t even in the boat. His succubus theory was getting stronger by the moment.

Asahi didn’t lower his weapon as he asked, “What brings you two here? And why were you singing?”

“Oh, our boat suddenly flipped over last night while we were sleeping.” The pink one said, “It certainly gave us a fright! luckily we hadn’t fallen asleep yet and managed to some how get here…” she looked around, “Wherever this is?”

He narrowed his eyes at her and pointed to the bag over her shoulder, “And you managed to hold onto your bag?”

“It wasn’t a large boat.” ‘Rammy’ replied, “It was a bit smaller than yours. Lolzy here used magic to help us travel quicker and we thought it best to keep our things with us in case someone came to try to rob us.”

“And who would rob you?” He asked.

The two shrugged, “But it worked out, so it wasn’t a bad idea.” 'Lolzy’ said simply.

Asahi nearly face palmed.

“So…” 'Rammy’ said, “Would you all be dears and take us to shore?”

“Please?” 'Lolzy pleaded, “We need to make it to the Southern Holy Isles before my cousin has her baby!" 

Asahi rose a brow, the southern holy isles were rumored to have fish people who gave magical crystals from deep under the crystal filled caves in exchange for offerings. He looked at the women’s accessories and weapons. Both girls wore jewels that looked exactly as if they had come from those caves and their weapons were endowed with large crystals that practically radiated magical power.

So even if they weren’t what he was looking for, they may know plenty about their prey and maybe his beloved Prince would be happy at the newest opponents after they got the information they needed from him.

He gave his best apologetic smile as he walked forward and offered his hand up to the dark haired Succubus, "But of course, what kind of person would I be to leave you two ladies stranded out here?" 

She reached out to take it, only for him to pull it back, "But before I do, could you two answer just one more question?”

“Of course.” The sultry one replied.

“Why were you two singing here of all places?” he asked.

“We were bored and playing 'I spy’ got old really quick.” the cutesy one informed him.

His eye twitched a bit before letting them into the boat and leading them to a few spare seats in the back, catching a whiff of something as the pink one passed him.

And it was not just the smell of the ocean. Oh no, this was the scent of fish… and not just any fish.

He grabbed at her pink hair, making her yelp as he took a deep sniff.

“What are you doing?” 'Rammy’ cried, pulling out her own blade

“Are you smelling me?” Lolzy asked as she squirmed in his grip, her expression filled with disgust, which tightened as a creepy smile curled up his cheeks.

He found one. He’d found a fish person, oh sure, she had legs, but those things also had magic, it’s possible that they used a spell to transform themselves into succubi to lure those trying to pull in their people to their deaths! The other probably was one too, he’d need to smell her too to be sure.

“Eel.” He chuckled as he pulled her closer so her face was right under his, “You smell like eel." 

”… What?“ she said, not expecting that reply.

"You smell like eel.” He repeated, “Eels are only in fresh water, not salt water.”

“Uh, eels can be salt water and fresh water.” she said.

“No…��� he said, pulling on her hair a bit harder.

“Yeah…” She argued, wincing a bit before covering her mouth, “And also, I fell in the ocean and swam Gods know how far to get here, wouldn’t it make sense if I smelled like the ocean?”

“You don’t SMELL like the ocean, you SMELL like eel.” He insisted.

“And why would you know what that smells like?” She asked, a bit disturbed.

“Because I’m from the East! I know what an eel smells like.” he snapped, annoyed that she kept trying to wiggle her way out of this. 

But it was also fitting for an eel.

“Uh, Lolz and I were just in the East and no one we saw there were standing around smelling random fish…” the other girl pointed out.

“ENOUGH!” he shouted, yanking harder on her hair, “YOU SMELL LIKE EEL AND YOU COME FROM THE SOUTHERN ISLES, YOU EITHER ARE A FISH SCENTED FREAK OR…” Asahi suddenly felt a sharp pain down below and he let her go, falling to his knees as he gasped for breath, noticing the staff had been angled to hit him in a sensitive area. The pink haired one wobbling a bit as she hurried over to her friend, who she thanked through coughs for the save by kicking her staff. She then turned around, her staff at the ready before a bright flash blinded him and he felt himself get launched backwards. 

“Capture them!” He shouted as the boat and the people in it got smaller and smaller before he eventually felt his body crash against the waves and his body sink into the water.

He felt a smile curl up his lips all the same, he’d found one. He’d FOUND ONE! And if this attack was any indication, his Prince would enjoy carving these two into sashimi!

—–

Zenos tapped his finger against the arm of his chair, bored.

This was always the worst part… the waiting. He had to wait until his soldiers came back with new beasts to battle. If they did come with new fiends to battle.

He sighed and glanced at the clock again, his patience waning.

If they didn’t find any new opponents today, he would need to pull out one of those Scions to fight today. The other merpeople they’d pulled were either not fighters and a waste of time to send to his father for their researchers to study later or not good enough opponents.

Surely there was some beast out there that could challenge him?

The doors flung open and Fordola stepped forward with her head held high and her eyes focused and steady, she stopped a good bit away from him and kneeled, “My Lord, Asahi’s party has returned with two guests, one of whom he claims to be a transformed mermaid and the other to be a transformed a succubus.”

“Hmm?” He asked, thoughtful, “And what exactly is his evidence?”

“One of them claims to be from the Southern Holy Isles and…” she seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, “And she smells like eel.”

“He smelled her?” He asked, his interest peaking a bit at the strangeness of the statement.

“Yes, apparently she launched him out of the boat with a spell for that.” She reported, “After Asahi insisted to arrest them both and they rescued him, she said that her friend didn’t deserve to be in chains, since she did nothing wrong. Asahi refused. So the other one flung him back into the sea with the back of her sword. Apparently she said, 'There, now I have a reason to be in chains.’ Afterwards.”

Zenos laughed. These two showed promise. Even if Asahi was incorrect in his assumption, he may still find a use for them, “Bring them to me. I would like to see these creatures for myself.”

“Yes, My Lord!” Fordola said before getting back onto her feet and leaving the room to him and his thoughts.

After what felt like an eternity, Asahi pushed open the doors and rushed to his feet, “My Lord! I have brought to you creatures of the deep disguised as an elezen and a hyur!” He then paused, then glared at the door before hissing at someone in the hall to bring the prisoners in.

The two women that were brought in were chained with their hands behind them, their crude weapons held by a soldier behind the ones who held their chains.

He looked at them with a smile, he had a good feeling about these two.

—

“Hey Rammy.” Lolz whispered as their boat pulled up along side a huge wall of a strange black stone, “Are you getting the feeling that something is off with this group?”

“You mean besides the fact that most of them are dressed up like giant black lobsters?” Ramora replied dryily as she struggled to free herself from her restraints, the eel mer had passed her a long shell they often used to break into old locks, but it seemed to be useless to them right now, these locks were far more advanced than the others they’d dealt with.

“… Well, now that you mention it, yeah, that too. But I mean, I don’t sense any kind of magic from the lobsters. Like at all.”

“What?” She said, shocked, “Are you sure?”

“Positive. The annoying one has some intense dark magic around him, but he never used it to stop my spell, so I think it may be an artifact of some sort.” Lolz confirmed.

“Hmm…” Ramora hummed thoughtfully before the creatures in black armor began covering the boat with chains, “Uh… what are they doing?”

“I dunno. Maybe it’s some weird lobster thing.” her friend said with a shrug.

Before Ramora could comment, the boat suddenly was lifted out of the water and they were being pulled up the black rock, the two crashed onto the floor of the boat with loud cries, Ramora felt her body ache as the little annoying one smirked down at them, “Going up.” He snickered.

“Up where?” she demanded darkly.

“To the Prince of Garlemald, Zenos yae Galvus!” The irksome creature cackled with delight, “You two are going to be his very special guests tonight!”

Ramora looked to Lolz, “Does that sound sexual to you? That sounds sexual to me.”

“Everything sounds sexual to you.” Lolz replied, “But yeah, it sounded sexual. And really creepy.”

He scowled at them as he let the blanket he’d been shivering in since they both flung him into the sea fall off his shoulders as he stood in the boat. Jumping a bit when they finally seemed to reach their destination.

The two glanced around, wide eyed as they were jerked around the strange structure, confused and disoriented.

The obnoxious one stopped in front of a female surface dweller by a really big door and began demanding an audience with 'His Lord’. She argued with him for a moment before walking over to them, squinting at them before looking back to the annoying one, then to them.

“If you want to launch him off the boat, you can borrow our weapons if you want.” Ramora offered. Lolz nodded eagerly and the girl bit back a smile before walking away and out of sight.

He smiled broadly at them, his eyes alight with impish glee.

“I wish we still had our weapons…” Lolz murmured.

“Now hang on, maybe I can use my new feet to hurt him more.” The shark mer suggested.

“… go on.” Lolz urged.

“Hey! what are you two whispering about?” He snapped as he got in their faces. Ramora gagged and looked to Lolz, “And he said YOU smelled!”

“What?” He asked.

“Your mouth smells horrible!” Ramora cried, “It smells like rotting corpses! No wonder poor Lolzy had to cover her nose and mouth!”

“Well, he was also spraying water out of his mouth and it stank just as bad.” Lolz told her.

“Ugh!” She gagged before scowling at the evil imp who frowned and breathed into his hands and blanched before he looked panicked.

“I can’t breathe the same air as my Lord with breath as bad as this.”

“Can’t you just stop then?” Lolz asked.

“Stop what?”

“Breathing.” Ramora said flatly.

He scowled at them again and told several passing lobsters to watch them and quickly dashed off into the unknown, shoving their weapons into one’s hands.

“I don’t suppose we can have those back?” Ramora asked.

“Sorry, but orders are orders.” One of the lobsters replied.

She gave them an understanding nod and the group stood in silence for a bit before Lolz asked, “So if we’re going to be here a while, can we take these restraints off, it’s not like we really have anywhere to go.”

But before the lobsters could answer, the girl returned, looking a bit confused as she glanced around.

“He went to deal with his bad breath.” Ramora told her, “We asked if he could stop breathing, but he wouldn’t go for it.

She smiled at them, "At least you tried. In the meantime, I’ll bring you two inside without him.”

“Fine by us!” Lolz exclaimed.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” A voice demanded.

The two mers groaned as their captor stomped over and glared at the woman before motioning for the lobsters to follow him as he walked through the door with a broad smile, the lobsters motioning for them to move in front of them, seeming a bit nervous as they did so.

“Can you use your feet to hurt him now?” Lolz mumbled.

“Maybe… wait, why can’t you do it?” Ramora asked her.

“Mine aren’t as long.” The eel mer reminded her.

“I doubt it makes them less effective,” She argued.

“Who knows with these things!” she grumbled back, “You seem to have better control of yours than I do.”

Before Ramora could counter her point, the male came back, shouting and motioning them to go inside.

The two carefully walked into the massive room, surprised to find it empty for the most part… except for the massive surface dweller sitting in the back of the room.

Ramora took him in from her spot. Long hair, huge, pretty face, lots of muscle…

“-Me!” Lolz hissed, “Rammy!”

“Hmm?” she hummed, her eyes not leaving the magnificent creature before her.

“Don’t even think about it.” her friend whispered, her tone firm, “this guy seems to be some sort of authority figure here and if that’s the case, he’s the one capturing the others!”

She let out another hum and continued to stare.

“Ramora, NO!" 

"Ramora yes!" 

"You don’t know where that thing has been!” she pointed out.

“I don’t mind as long as I’m on top.” she murmured, her eyes still glued to the man on the fancy chair.

“Ughh…” her friend groaned, “Fine, but if you DO sleep with him, see if you can steal his keys or something. His weapons, anything that can help us rescue the others, destroy the nets and get out of here, okay?”

Ramora let out another hum and Lolz looked up at the ceiling, “We’re so fucked…” she whispered.

“I certainly hope so.” Ramora purred as her friend sighed.

This whole netters thing had just gotten a lot more interesting~

#lolzwaitwhat writes #thank you for writing these #I've kept them in my inbox for so long because they really cheer me up when I'm feeling low #but I think it's time I post them #submission

[fheythfully]

I’m taking the time to reflect back on Stormblood and finally read my second volume of the Encylopaedia Eorzea, and I ended up putting this under a read more because it’s just me rambling to myself about Ala Mhigo and my thoughts on Stormblood for way longer than I intended :<

Honestly I am still so bummed about the complete lack of attention Ala Mhigo got? I was never a fan of it pre 3.0, but all the tidbits of lore we got made me excited to finally learn more about. I mean--please correct me if I’m wrong--it first had a war with Gridania (which it lost, and I would have loved to know about the Autumn War; since all we see of the Alliance now is, well, an alliance, and I would love to see the history of conflict between them that led us to this point), and then it was the first nation of Eorzea (our continent) to fall to the Garlean Empire. It had so much history that was now being suppressed by the Garleans, and it was a site of tension as it sat directly next to the borders of Gridania--a perfect point of entry into the rest of Eorzea. And I mean, the Garleans obviously tried, we’ve had castrums set up everywhere all over the place, but back in 2.0 you could sit in the Shroud and see the castrum and imagine the Garlean dominated land right beyond it. I think Thanalan had the same, in Northern Thanalan, but I don’t quite remember much of it--the Shroud always interested me more, personally.

Anyway, we had all this history of Ala Mhigo as its own nation, and then its war with Gridania and the other city states coming together (for the first time?) to defend against an Ala Mhigan invasion (I think? I may be muddling some details of the Autumn War), and now we know it has it own internal history of the Mad King Theodoric that was happening at the same time, and then we have it as the first city state that fell to Garlemald on our continent... and Stormblood was really ramping it up that we would finally get to find out more about Ala Mhigo and its history, and its present state, and culture, and how they’ve been living under imperial rule. But, instead, we just kind of got... what we got? The areas have been lovely, and I enjoyed the villages and the NPCs we interact with and their little stories there, and the city is lovely too (but very empty...) but it just still felt like something was missing? Maybe I had expected too much, and was disappointed when the focus had to be split between Ala Mhigo and Doma (and I still personally don’t actually care at all for Doma, so I am definitely biased in how I am feeling about the lack of Ala Mhigo). 

My biggest thing though to this day is Lyse. Why was she the driving point of the Ala Mhigan resistance and leadership? Lyse as herself aside, it was just so weird to have this girl who fled Ala Mhigo when she was very young suddenly be respected by those who lived under the yoke of the Garleans for her passion and her drive to free the people. A big part of it was that she was the daughter of Curtis, sure, but it was just so... out of place to me? I admire Lyse’s dedication to freeing her homeland but why couldn’t we see the experience of someone new to us, who has been living under the imperial rule and experienced all the things Lyse didn’t and was probably even more passionate to free their people from the Garleans? Fordola was almost a good character with an interesting ark similar to that, but she got completed dumped to the side which is again, so... disappointing. I just really wanted a new NPC, an Ala Mhigan who’s been living under Garlean rule, be introduced as one of the driving forces within Ala Mhigo driving the resistance forward and to victory. 

I dunno, the thing with Lyse for me also, is that it’s like... if I, who left my home country (now in a civil/external war) at the age of nine and went back to help lead some sort of movement there, I would get my ass kicked out so fast for being an outsider and daring to think I knew what was best for the people who have been living under these conditions while I just lived apart and looked on, and I wouldn’t blame them one bit because I am an outsider now and have no right to try and lead or influence anyone there and Lyse just does this exact thing and believes she knows what’s best for the Ala Mhigans and it drove me insane 

Anyway yeah I am just... reminded again how disappointed I was by this part of Stormblood. Hopefully in the future we can see more of Ala Mhigo as it gets built back up. We saw a lot of Ishgard (which is my favourite city state!) in Heavensward as the focus of its own expansion, and now we are going back to watch it rebuild, and I am really hoping we get something similar for Ala Mhigo one day. >_<

#i didnt expect to have so many ala mhigo thoughts #considering i never even liked ala mhigo to begin with #but here i am :

[fordolaremlupis]

@heretiscorn

She wasn't sure if the redheaded girl knew Fordola was keenly aware of her staring, but it had gone on for bit longer than the young woman liked. It was hard to enjoy a meal when someone was staring, much harder now that this place had her on edge.

Finally, her temper got the best of her, causing Fordola to glare at the girl. "If you need food, just bloody ask. Otherwise, piss off!" She said in a huff before taking a big bite out of the bread sitting next to her bowl of stew. This was a strange place, but at least the food was good.

"I'm in no mood for games."

#heretiscorn #kyouko sakura 01 #i'm sorry for my rowdy child

[onwesterlywinds]

Passages

Ashe had tried to engage Lyse in what she had hoped would be a private stroll through the Ala Mhigan palace, only there were Resistance soldiers everywhere. Some worked at disassembling what remained of the magitek barriers littering the walls and floor; others adhered to sweeping patrols; one or two looked to be skulking about or otherwise off-duty but snapped into salutes as she and Lyse strode past.

Briefly, Ashe thought of Meffrid Noward - what he might have thought of these ragged young recruits, their force bearing the name of all those who had borne Ala Mhigo to its present freedom.

For all their earnestness, she did not trust one of them not to eavesdrop if given a chance.

It was a greater trial than it was worth to disrupt her conversation with the turn of each corner, too pressing a matter to delegate her speech to whispers; and so Ashe escorted the commander down a tight passage lying in wait behind a shadowed enclave. Lyse's gape widened as they slipped through the unlocked door at the end, emerging into what had once been the office of the Dangerous Criminal Task Force - the old Riskbreakers.

Just as Ashe opened her mouth to apologize for all of the secrecy, Lyse said, "I'm amazed at how much you remember of all this." She gestured around at the interior of the room, long since emptied of any valuables and lit only by a thin skylight. "Did you visit the palace often as a girl?"

"No," Ashe admitted. "Not very often."

Before the liberation, she had been to the palace only once, when she was too young to remember: her mother had been sick and her father had needed to stop into this very office, even while on leave, to pick up some paperwork. Outside of that, her father had told her recently, he had encouraged a separation of his personal life from Riskbreaker business - particularly as the shadow of Theodoric's madness grew ever larger throughout the palace.

Still, Ashelia Riot patrolled the halls with the memory of one who had walked them for years - so long as she concentrated on her connection to her father through the Echo. Once, she had closed herself off while in the middle of what had once been a servants' tunnel and had struggled to find her way back to familiar territory. The connection worked at its best when she did not have to contemplate it at all - when she treated it as muscle memory. Yet accessing the knowledge had had its benefits. Already she had overheard conversations she otherwise would not have: guards discussing Fordola rem Lupis in captivity, guesses at Raubahn Aldynn's political future, relatives returning and dead, even a plan to destroy Zenos' gravesite.

And since she had offered to inform Lyse of anything that might be of use in shoring up the city's defenses, the Grand Steward had become nothing less than invaluable to the interim government.

"It seems as if you know all sorts of things about this place that I never could," Lyse mused. "I wish I remembered Ala Gannha half as well as you know Ala Mhigo."

But it did not feel right to divulge her secrets here of all places - here, where so many horrific plans had lain undisturbed, so many misdeeds plotted for the means of preserving a mad monarch's rule. She had taken up the office's name, and its double-edged legacy, and the weight of its past still discomfited her at times such as these.

And so she continued onward, through yet another door and into a thin stairwell, cool but humid. She did not turn back for Lyse but could hear the woman's footsteps fall in line with her own upon the damp stone. Dark and desolate as it was, even for a span of no more than several seconds, she might have imagined them both in the underground passages where she and Edge had spent so much time as children. At the top of the stairs, she pushed upon the barren wall and emerged at the far end of the palace's empty throne room.

As Lyse stared around in wonder at the change to their surroundings, Ashe said, "I think it's time for me to be entirely honest with you, Lyse."

Lyse opened her mouth as though to reply, then closed it abruptly. Her brow furrowed in an expression of confusion that reminded Ashe a little of Ahtynwyb. "What do you mean?"

She took in a deep breath. Now or never. "Before I begin, this is a topic that is rarely, if ever, spoken of freely. Can I trust you to ensure my words remain between us?"

"Of course."

Even as her father's warnings rang through her head - fractured and contentious and bloodthirsty - a far greater urgency for her people's future drove her on.

"If you are to lead Ala Mhigo, or even to help implement its new government, there's something you first need to know. About Ala Mhigo, and about me." She sighed. "To that end... it's time I told you of the Undercity."

"The... the what?"

"The Undercity. More or less, it's precisely what it sounds like: an entire society far beneath our feet, connected by a sprawling network of underground tunnels. It exists separately from the city above and comprises thousands of souls, each with their own motives and allegiances. Some shun the topside at all costs. Others participate in it where and when they can. Others have a foot in each world." Like me, perhaps. "But the Undercity has been privy to some of Ala Mhigo's deepest secrets. It's where my father honed his skills before joining the Riskbreakers - and it was the city's final line of defense when the Garleans invaded."

Lyse pursed her lips, laying a single hand to rest against the side of her face in a contemplative gesture. "But I don't understand. If this 'Undercity' exists-" Ashe whirled around to check again for any listeners-in, and Lyse seemed to take the hint as she lowered her voice. "If that many people make their living beneath Ala Mhigo - how is none of this common knowledge?"

"Mostly because the people of the Undercity prefer it that way," she replied. "Though to be fair, plenty do know of the Undercity, even if not by name. They know of the beggars, and the highwaymen, and the orphaned children; they simply don't know where those people go once they're gone from the public eye. I believe that by advocating for these people, we will be better served to defend the city as a whole."

"And you're telling me you're... from the Undercity."

"Not precisely; I merely spent much of my youth there. As did Edge."

"Is there any way I could see it?"

"I believe you already have. You and the Scions first entered Ala Mhigo through an underground well system, didn't you?"

The young commander nodded as understanding dawned upon her face. "Well, I trust you. If you say that this Undercity can help keep Ala Mhigo safe, then I have no problem with you devoting time and resources to-"

"Not only me, Lyse. I'm honored that you're considering me for the proposed council of leaders. Yet I ask that you admit me not only as Grand Steward of the Riskbreakers, but also as a representative for the myriad factions within the Undercity." She breathed a deep sigh. "If we could work in tandem with the rest of Ala Mhigo's leaders to offer aid to those who need and want it while minimizing the crime coming out of the Undercity... such a plan could change an entire generation."

"It's all a little strange to me," Lyse admitted after a second. "But I don't see why not. Regardless, you'll be at the council meeting?"

"I certainly will."

"We can talk more about it then. In the meantime, I'll ask that you do what all the other leaders are doing: gather some of your constituents' opinions on the reconstruction efforts. Ask if there's anything they need, or what we can do to help them."

Ashe nodded. "Thank you, Lyse."

"Don't thank me yet." The young woman made to approach the double doors, then thought better of exiting into the hall beyond; instead, she retraced her steps toward the hidden tunnel so etched into the Riskbreakers' previous histories. "This leadership thing is proving to be a much bigger ordeal than I'd ever imagined."

#Ashelia Riot #Understory

[rosafulmen-a]

I  have  a  few  thoughts  around  an  XIV  verse  for  Lightning.  I  know  she  had  a  quest  way  back  when  that  kind  of  makes  her  canonical  to  the  game,  but  the  nebulous  ‘far  away  hero’  thing  doesn’t  really  do  it  for  me  ?  I’ve  got  some  loose  ideas  below.  There  are  some  mild  Endwalker  spoilers  here  (  zone  3  /  healer quests  ),  so  be  warned.

Whilst  I  don’t  think  Lightning  is  Garlean,  I  do  like  the  idea  of  her  coming  from  somewhere  in  occupied  Garlemald,  much  like  how  Fordola  joined  the  Crania  Lupi.  She  would  have  done  it  to  help  protect  herself  and  Serah,  giving  them  a  chance  to  move  into  the  city  proper.  Though  she  does  hold  an  extreme  amount  of  guilt  over  ‘abandoning’  her  people,  she  felt  it  was  the  best  choice  made  in  a  rock  and  a  hard  place  situation.

Both girls  would  know  magic,  but  because  of  it  being  outlawed  they  would  have  rarely  practiced  until  Lightning  gained  the  Echo.  She would  have  been  one  of  the  last  it  was bestowed upon.

While  the  visions  of  the  city’s  fall were weak,  it  was  enough  for  her  to  collect  a  radio  and  keep  herself  safe.  Her  sister,  however,  was  less  lucky  and  became  tempered  as  a  result,  assisting  in  the  summoning  of  Anima.

Much  of  Lightning’s  work,  then,  would  be  assisting  the  Eorzean  forces  as  she  tries  to  find  out  what  happened  to  Serah.

#* ORIGIN OF STORMS ( headcanons ) #* VERSE / FFXIV ╰ crystal blessed ; unwilling champion